plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Well I'm bummed. I just found out that one of the places I've been hunting is no longer available to me... :(

This was the only place within range for me to go to frequently (under 1 hour away). Is there anyone on here that would be willing to help me out in any way to find some land in St. Clair County Illinois? Or even the southern end of Madison County? I just moved here to Illinois from Missouri and am not having very much luck with finding places to hunt. Has anyone stopped hunting some plot of land that they'd be willing to talk with me about?

Just thought I'd ask...

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Good Luck!!

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Illinois Department of Natural Resources Website

You should be able to find numerous state parks and public wildlife management areas to hunt on this site.

Good Luck!

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

ILNYPAKY, I know there are plenty of public hunting spots. Just none close. I'm looking for a good site that is close enough to go to in the morning before work or early afternoon when getting off work early. That makes these 2 hour drives unfeasable for me.[>:]

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Just curious.....what county (or more specific if you are willing to give) were you hunting that it took you an hour to get to? It takes me close to an hour to get to Fairview from where I am.

I know of one public place that might not take you too long to get too...depending on where in Fairview Hts. you're located. Washington Co. Conservation Area.....it's about 4-5 miles south of Nasville Illinois. I'm not positive as to how much land (wooded areas) they have but I've been pheasant hunting there a few times and it seems to be about half woods and half fields so if you can find out how much total acreage they have then this info might be usefull. From the little I've been on their land I do know that some of the woods there gets kind of wooly in a few places. But then again I don't know how many people bow hunt there or anything. Just food for thought though.

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Looks like there are some nice Public Hunting access in your area:

Kaskaskia River FWA is 34 miles from FairView Heights and it's 14,000 acres and it's looks like the largest public hunting area in your region.

Horseshoe Lake SP has 4195 acres divided between 2 refuges that are both bow only and they are about 19 miles from FairView Heights.

Peabody River is a 1,000 acres and it's bow only and it's 35 miles from you.

I hope this helps. I got all this info off of the DNR website. Hers is the link. Just go down and click on Public Hunting areas toward the bottom.

http://dnr.state.il.us/admin/systems/index.htm

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Forget the public land. Been there, done that. You have 8 months to knock on doors and send letters to land owners asking permission. As you probably know, it's not easy, but I got lucky and have a nice place 5 minutes from me in Troy. Good luck.

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

"A total of four (4) bowhunters will be permitted to hunt the peninsula of Horseshoe Lake State Park, Madison County, Illinois, during each of the designated hunting weeks."

I had tried this one.

Kaskaskia is 1 hour 3 minutes (I'll probably hit this on weekends).

Peabody is essentialy the same as Kaskaskia.

Thanks for the help folks. This really will give me some good places to hit for the weekends...

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Residential areas are where I would look. I get most of my access in new areas by talking to folks as I'm bellied up to a bar. I always work in the darn deer eating everything during a conversation. I've got more places to hunt in so many staes it's not funny. I even had one oportunity north of Springfield but never persued it. I would pass it on if I rememberd the contact.

Good luck!

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

You could look into Chouteau-Gaberet Island. It is thru the Horseshoe lake office or the Army Corp. of Engineers. It is bow only and open to the public. You need a hunting permit( it is free and not a draw area ). I took a 10 and a 12 point and a doe out of there this year.

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Wrongway, I go to college in Edwardsville so I would possibly be interested in the Chouteau-Gaberet Island. That would keep me from traveling home every weekend to deer hunt. Is it very crowded? Every other public land spot I've hunted on is extremely over hunted and you get yelled at constantly when walking to your spot in the morning. Also since its an island, do you have to have boat access?

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

You need a boat for Mosenthein Island, but not for Chouteau-Gaberet Islands. The road back to the 1 parking area can be ruff. I use my bicycle to get to my favorite spot. It is a 2 1/2 mile ride from the parking area. It can be busy on the weekends.
I made a rack to carry my stand and equipment for my bike, and a cart which attaches to the back of the rack to haul deer out.

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

That's the CLOSEST place to park for Chouteau island??

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

It is 2 1/2 miles to my favorite spot by road, shorter if you want to cut thru the fields.
You can hunt right next to the parking area if you want to. There is a few different patches of timber and fields to hunt.
You can also hunt some spots along Route 3. Go to the Horseshoe Lake office or the Corp of Engineers office in West Alton during business hours and get a map showing the hunting areas.

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

wrongway, the dnr website says chouteau island is 184 acres. You could barely go 2 1/2 miles if you circled 184 acres... Is my acreage estimation off or is the internet wrong about the huntable land?

So I guess if I want to find the big dudes I just have to go to the parking area and follow the bike tracks?

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

Chouteau and Gabaret Island are one island, and Gabaret has 930 acres. I like hunting the southern border of the hunting area on Gabaret. I don't see alot of deer, but I do see enough to make the trip. I don't see very many hunters either because I try to hunt weekdays.

RE: plea for help! (land in Illinois?)
 

wrongway, my bud and I are thinking about going out scouting and shed hunting next Saturday. Would you wanna meet up and do some of that together? Email me: [email protected]

thanks.